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Millier (Arthur) Archive
H.Mss.1100
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Title: Arthur Millier Archive
Dates: 1921 - 1975
Collection number: H.Mss.1100
Creator:
Millier, Arthur Henry Thomas
Extent:
2.25 Linear Feet
(1 records box, 2 document boxes, 1 slim document box)
Repository:
Claremont Colleges. Library. Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd Library. Claremont, CA 91711
Abstract: This collection contains materials relating to Arthur Henry Thomas Millier, Los Angeles Times art critic, and his family.
Highly active in the early twentieth century Los Angeles art scene, Millier was responsible for helping to establish the reputations
of California artists such as Emil Kosa and Millard Sheets, among others. This archive contains correspondence, photographs,
scrapbooks, diaries, and other personal materials from the Millier family. Items of note include original etchings by Millier,
extensive correspondence with the family of the famous opera singer Lawrence Tibbett, and a program from the funeral of the
artist Millard Sheets.
Physical Location: Please consult repository.
Language of Material: Languages represented in the collection: English, French.
Collection open for research.
All requests for permission to reproduce or to publish must be submitted in writing to Special Collections.
[Identification of item]. Arthur Millier archive (H.Mss. 1100). Special Collections, The Claremont Colleges Library, Claremont,
California.
Provenance / Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Walkabout Books, 2018.
No additions to the collection are anticipated.
Materials were placed in chronological order, letters were removed from their envelopes, unfolded, and placed in archival
paper slings. Items were housed in archival folders and boxes.
Biography / Administrative History
Arthur Henry Thomas Millier (1893-1975) was a noted printmaker and art critic who helped bring national recognition to many
emerging California artists in the first half of the twentieth century. Born in England, he moved with his parents to California
as a teenager, attended Los Angeles High School, and continued his studies at the Los Angeles Art Students' League. He served
in France in World War I, and afterward settled for a time in San Francisco, where he studied at the California School of
Fine Arts, worked as a designer at the Schmidt Lithograph Company, and honed his skills as a printmaker. His early etchings
focused on street scenes and urban life in San Francisco, but his interest soon turned to the California landscapes for which
he would become best known. He had his first solo exhibition in 1922. Over the years, he received several awards for etching,
and today his prints are included in the permanent collections of such major institutions as the Los Angeles County Museum
and the Art Institute of Chicago.
In 1922, Millier returned to Los Angeles and taught at the Chouinard Art Institute, Otis Art Institute, the University of
Southern California, and the Pasadena Art Institute. In 1926, he became the art critic at the Los Angeles Times, where he
would remain for more than three decades. From this position of influence, Millier was among the first to promote the growth
of regional California art. His association with the California Scene Painters helped to establish the national reputations
of such California artists as Emil Kosa, Phil Dike, Millard Sheets, Barse Miller, and Rex Brandt. He was also very sympathetic
to work by members of the Los Angeles’ newly emerging modern art scene. He was friends with Edward Weston, Merle Armitage,
Jake Zeitlin, Will Connell, Frank Lloyd Wright, R.M. Schindler, Richard Neutra, and other members of the Los Angeles’ avant-garde,
and was a frequent champion of their work in his weekly reviews.
Millier’s art criticism was always respected, and he is frequently quoted in scholarly literature on the development of the
California art scene, as well as the broader world of twentieth century art and design. Relatively little is known about Millier
personally, and this archive contributes much to the body of knowledge about Millier’s life and family.
Biographical information provided by Walkabout Books, Laguna Hills, CA.
This collection contains the personal papers of Arthur Millier and his family. Materials include extensive correspondence
to Millier and his wife Francine, family photographs, photo albums, scrapbooks, diaries, and original art by Millier and his
friends. It also contains miscellaneous ephemera, such as invitations to art shows, magazines, muscial scores, and programs.
Items of note include correspondence from the composer Hugo Friedhofer, Arthur and Francine Millier's diaries, correspondence
from their son Arthur Jr. ("Artie") during his service in World War II, and Millier's original etchings, and extensive correspondence
from opera singer Lawrence Tibbett's wife Grace, including one letter from Tibbett himself.
Materials in this collection has been arranged by type, then chronologically within each type.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library’s online public access catalog.
Art
Artists
Art criticism
Los Angeles (Calif.)
Tibbett, Lawrence, 1896-1960
United States. Army
World War, 1939-1945
Correspondence
Diaries
Etching
Photographs
Photograph albums
Scrapbooks